


Counting Sheep

by Treekianthia



Category: Bravely Default (Video Game) & Related Fandoms
Genre: Anxiety, Comfort, F/M, Post-Canon, Sheep, Sheep is an important tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-13
Updated: 2018-06-13
Packaged: 2019-05-21 21:49:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14923445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Treekianthia/pseuds/Treekianthia
Summary: When Agnès’ anxiety acts up, she knows how to deal with it, but when Tiz is late coming home one day, she finds herself having to deal with it more than she really wants to. (Fic Archive: 10/11/17)





	Counting Sheep

**Author's Note:**

> The following fic was originally posted to outside sources on 10/11/17. It is being posted here for archival purposes and to help document my progress as a writer. More info on myself and my works can be found on my tumblr blog woodland-knight.

_One… Two… Three…_ **  
**

Over and over, Agnès counted. She counted as she sewed, she counted as she cleaned, and she counted as she paced around the house endlessly. No matter where she was or what she was doing, she continued to count. She was restless, and counting gave her peace of mind, but only for so long. As soon as she was calm, she’d look at the time, and she’d find herself back in the same situation she had started in.

Tiz was late; twenty minutes late to be exact. He had gone out early in the morning to help repair a shop that had partially burned down in the village square, yet he had told her he would be home by noon whether or not they finished. That time had passed, however, and Tiz was still nowhere to be seen. With each minute that ticked by, Agnès became more anxious about his return. Intertwining her fingers and twiddling her thumbs, she bit her lip in anticipation.

_Four… Five… Six…_

Agnès walked in circles in the front room, each round making her more and more anxious. Her steps were in time with the ticking of a giant grandfather clock in the hall, but her heart was beating in double time. It wasn’t like Tiz to be late, especially by more than five minutes, but there had yet to be any signs of him returning home.  _Had something happened to him? Had he gotten hurt and somebody was on their way to tell her?_  No matter how hard she tried, Agnès couldn’t stop herself from jumping to the worst possible outcomes.

“He’s absolutely fine, Agnès. You’re worrying yourself over nothing,” she told herself as she completed yet another minute’s worth of pacing. “Just keep counting, just keep counting…”

_Seven… Eight… Nine…_

“Agnès, I’m home!”

Agnès stopped dead in her tracks and turned her attention to the entryway. Standing in the open doorway was Tiz, who was brushing off a bit of dirt from his shirt and wiping his boots on the mat. Dropping her nervous demeanor, Agnès walked over to her husband and embraced him tightly.

“Welcome home, Tiz!” she said while smiling. Now that he was home, she was acting like nothing had happened. There was no reason to make him worry, especially since his presence was enough to calm her nerves.

“How’s my pumpkin doing?” Tiz asked as he closed the door returned the hug. Agnès bumped her nose against his and continued to smile.

“I’m doing just fine, Tiz. Even better now that you’re home,” she lied. It was only a partial lie, however, as the latter fact was true. He didn’t need to know how she had been acting beforehand though, and she was good enough at hiding it. She was just glad to have him home.

_Ten… Eleven… Twelve…_

Tiz’s stomach growled. “Good thing I got back just in time for lunch. I’m starving!” Tiz mentioned before laughing. Agnès, however, gave him a slight frown.

“You’re late you know,” she began to tell him. “You said you’d be home at noon. It’s now almost thirty minutes passed that.”

Tiz gave her a look of confusion. “Huh? I said I’d be home for lunch, didn’t I? Lunch doesn’t have to be exactly at noon, Agnès,” he reminded her. “I mean, we’ve had lunch passed noon plenty of times, haven’t we?”

Letting go of Tiz, Agnès wagged a finger at him. “Well in most cases, one would associate lunch with noon, so I was expecting you at noon!” she lectured. “I even timed out when I’d cook lunch to make sure it would be done by the exact time you’d get home!”

Tiz’s expression changed to one of concern. “Agnès… Are you feeling okay?” he asked as he put his hands on her shoulders. He was looking her directly in the eyes, as if he was trying to find something wrong with her, and it made Agnès uncomfortable.

“I.. I am perfectly fine, Tiz!” Agnès tried to convince him while staring back. She was stuttering a bit, and she hoped it didn’t blow her cover. “I’m just telling you that based on what you said, you are late!”

Tiz frowned. “Pumpkin, you’re not acting like yourself. You knew where I was and what I was doing, so you should have known I might have taken a bit longer to get back home,” he pointed out. Agnès, however, huffed at his remark and turned away.

“I told you, I’m fine, Tiz!” she repeated with a fake air of confidence. “Now I would very much like to go eat lunch so we can leave! We have much to do, and standing here debating this only takes away from our time!”

_Thirteen… Fourteen… Fifteen..._

Tiz once again placed a hand on Agnès’ shoulder. “Agnès, pumpkin… You’re really not acting like yourself right now, and you’re starting to make me worry,” he told her. “If something is wrong, you can tell me. I’ll try my best to help you.”

Agnès looked back and faked another smile. She had to be careful with what she said or else Tiz would find out she had been anxious the entire time she waited for him. “I’m fine, Tiz. Now let’s go eat the lunch I prepared, okay? There’s stew and bread and-”

“Agnès, tell me what’s wrong,” Tiz interrupted. He was stern now, and Agnès could tell her plan to keep him from worrying was starting to backfire. “There’s no need to hide anything from me,” Tiz told her. “I’m here to help you, okay?”

Agnès took a deep breath, but it was followed by silence. She was still trying so hard to fake being alright, but she had been so anxious over what had happened she had gotten herself riled up. It had been nowhere near her intention to come off the way she had, but it was far too late to try and back out of it. Tiz knew something was going on now, and there was no use in trying to hide it anymore. The fact she had failed, however, had made her even more anxious than earlier.

“Sixteen… Seventeen… Eighteen… There’s Eighteen…” Agnès muttered under her breath. She was met with more silence, but a few moments later, she felt Tiz wrap his arms around her as he placed his head on her shoulder.

“Anxious about tomorrow?” Tiz asked her as he held her close. His voice had become softer now, and there was no signs of the sternness he had just a minute before. Agnès remained quiet, however, and elected to place her hands on top of Tiz’s instead of speaking.

_Tomorrow…_  Tomorrow was the day was going to find out whether or not she was with child. An Eternian White Mage would be in Caldisla, and the two had an appointment for early the next day. They had planned to leave that afternoon to make sure they made it to the city before nightfall, but the later Tiz was, the later they would need to leave, and the later they left, the more likely of running into trouble on the way. Agnès desperately wanted everything to go perfectly, resulting in her being anxious the entire morning. This only worsened when Tiz didn’t show up when she had expected him to.

“There’s so many things that can go wrong, Tiz…” Agnès said as she ran one of her thumbs across Tiz’s hands. “We could be late, or one of us could get hurt along the way, or… Or…”

“I’m going to make sure none of that happens,” Tiz assured Agnès as he swayed her a bit. “I’ll protect you until my last breath and make sure you’re able to make it to your appointment tomorrow.”

Agnès took a deep breath. “Well, even if we do make it… What if I don’t turn out to be pregnant? What if this was all a mistake and we waste our time by going?” she asked as her voice cracked a bit. Letting go of her, Tiz turned her around to get a better look at her.

“No matter what happens tomorrow, I promise you it’s going to be okay,” he tried to assure her as he took her hands in his. “I’m here for you, Agnès, and nothing is going to change that.”

Agnès shook her head. “I just can’t stop worrying, Tiz! We’ve had so many complications, and we both desperately want to be parents… I’m just so worried they’ll tell me something terrible!” she admitted. Her heart was racing again, and she felt like it was trying to tear itself out of her chest. It was painful, but it didn’t seem like it was going to stop.

“Agnès, pumpkin, it’s going to be alright… We’re doing all that we can right now, and that’s what matters,” he continued to try and assure. Agnès wasn’t listening, however, and she was starting to feel Tiz wasn’t listening to her either.

“You can’t keep saying that, Tiz! You don’t know if it really is going to be alright!” she cried out. Her voice was still cracking, and she was starting to let her anxieties get the better of her. Suddenly, however, she felt a slight calm as Tiz placed his hand on her cheek.

“One… Two… Three…” he counted to her as she tried to keep her breathing at a steady pace. His voice was quiet and calm, and it made Agnès feel a bit more at ease. Closing her eyes, she counted with him.

“Four, five, six…” she said as she breathed in and out. “Seven, eight, nine…”

“How many sheep do you see, Agnès?” Tiz asked her. Agnès furrowed her brow and took a moment to think.

This wasn’t the first time Tiz had asked Agnès this when anxious, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last. One particular night many months ago, when Agnès had been just as anxious as she was now, he presented her with the question for the first time. Tiz had told her to close her eyes, and once she had, he told her to imagine sheep in a field and count each one she could see. She hadn’t been sure to as of why at first, but as she counted them all one by one, she had begun to calm down. The repetitive task and calm environment had been enough to ease her worries, so now each time she felt anxious, she would conjure up an imaginary flock of sheep and count them through.

“...nineteen. I count nineteen sheep,” she told him. “That’s one more than earlier…”

“Where are they?” Tiz continued to ask. “What kind of place are they in? What are they doing there? What do they look like?”

“They’re in a field by a river… Some of them are grazing, others are walking around… Most of them are white, but there’s two black sheep standing next to each other… One of them is a baby, and he’s very attached to the older one...” she continued telling him. Her heart was no longer beating rapidly, and much of her worries were starting to fade away. Though her anxiety about the day to come wasn’t completely gone, she was feeling much more relaxed now.

“Do they make you feel any better?” Tiz asked once more as he took her hand off her cheek. A moment later, Agnès opened her eyes and nodded her head.

“Yes, they do… It’s not perfect, but… It’s better,” she said as she lightly placed her hand on her chest. “It’s because they remind me of being with you…”

Tiz gave a slight smile. “I’m glad to know I can help you in some way even when I’m not around, pumpkin,” he told her with a bit of loving pride. Agnès could tell from his tone that he treasured her well being,  and that brought her peace of mind. For a moment, she felt as if she never had an anxious episode at all.

“Promise me that you’ll always be there to help me, Tiz,” Agnès requested. “Promise me that I can rely on you even if you’re nowhere to be found…”

Leaning in close, Tiz placed his forehead against Agnès’ and put his hand on top of her own. “As long as you keep counting sheep, I’ll always be there with you!” he said with the utmost confidence. “You don’t need to be so drastic when asking me to love and care for you.” Even if Tiz wasn’t the best with tender moments, his words still came from the heart.

“Then I promise that I’ll keep counting sheep to keep you close,” Agnès assured her husband before kissing him. It was a normal kiss- not anything special- but for both of them, it meant something important. It meant they would always be there for each other, even when they physically couldn’t...

The kiss, however, was cut short by Tiz’s stomach growling once again.

“Ehe, guess I’m still hungry,” Tiz said sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head. He seemed a bit embarrassed, but Agnès didn’t seem any reason for him to be; they were married and in love, after all. Shaking her head and smiling, Agnès started gesturing towards their kitchen.

“Well there’s plenty of food waiting for you. We’ll both need to eat our fill if we want the energy to make it to Caldisla before nightfall,” she pointed out. Stomach still growling, Tiz walked towards the kitchen and sniffed the air.

“Ah, you made my favorite stew!” Tiz exclaimed before turning to Agnès. “We’ll definitely make it to Caldisla before nightfall with this! We should bring extra, too!”

Still smiling, Agnès walked over to her husband and took his arm. “Well, what are you waiting for? We have a big day ahead of us, and you need your strength,” she teased. Nodding with a big grin on his face, Tiz took her arm in return and headed into the kitchen.

Agnès had started the day counting sheep to calm herself, but now she’d be counting the bowls of stew her husband would eat to prepare for their journey. With him in tow, she’d move forward and keep fighting against any anxious feelings that came her way. She had no idea what tomorrow would have in store for them, but with her husband at her side she was willing to face it. Perhaps she would be pregnant, or perhaps not, but she knew she would be okay. Even if all went against her hopes, she could be certain of one thing…

She could always count sheep to remind herself Tiz was with her, and everything would be alright.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't remember what the exact statement that spawned this fic was, but I had notes somewhere saying my friend inspired it when they mentioned these two and sheep. I got a line stuck in my head after that, and I wrote this entire fic around that one line.
> 
> I don't remember what the line was, but I guess that's to be expected at this point. All I seem to recall is having a hard time with this one, but I guess I managed to pull through.


End file.
